Redundant array of independent storage devices

• US 20030028725A1
• Filed: 08/03/2001
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Eldredge, Kenneth J., Naberhuis, Steven Louis
• Granted Patent: US 6,671,778 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1042 NanoRAID, i.e. RAID systems using nanotechnology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0625 Power saving in storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 9/10 using electron beam; Record carriers therefor G11B9/08 takes precedence see provisional also G11B11/03
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A redundant array of independent storage devices is disclosed herein. The redundant storage device includes one or more an atomic resolution storage devices and a control system. The atomic resolution storage device is configured to communicate with the control system as a redundant array of independent storage devices. Each atomic resolution storage device is a non-volatile memory component including a plurality of electron emitters, a medium having medium partitions, and a plurality of micromovers wherein each micromover is independently operable to move a medium partition relative to one or more electron emitters for redundant reading and writing of data at the media.

Claims

1. A storage system comprising:

a controller; and

an atomic resolution storage device configured to communicate with the controller as a redundant array of independent storage devices, wherein the atomic resolution storage device is a non-volatile memory component including a plurality of electron emitters, a media having media partitions, and a plurality of micromovers wherein each micromover is independently operable to move a media partition relative to one or more electron emitters for reading and writing data at the media.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a control system, wherein the atomic resolution storage device is responsive to a user input via the control system for reading and writing at the media.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the atomic resolution storage device is approximately 1 centimeters wide by 1 centimeters long by 2 millimeters high.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the atomic resolution storage device has a standby power requirement of less than 1 Watts.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the atomic resolution storage device is configured to operate as a RAID LEVEL 1 storage device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the atomic resolution storage devices are located on separate silicon based units.

6. A data storage system comprising:

a control system; and

a plurality of atomic resolution storage devices configured to communicate with the control system as a redundant array of independent storage devices, each atomic resolution storage device including;

an array of electron emitters fabricated by semiconductor microfabrication techniques capable of generating electron beams; and

a storage medium in proximity to the electron emitters and having storage areas in one of a plurality of states to represent the information stored in the storage area.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a communications bus, wherein the atomic resolution storage devices are configured to communicate with the control system via the communications bus.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of atomic resolution storage devices are located on a single silicon based unit.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the control system is located on the silicon based unit.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein an effect is generated when the electron beam current bombards the storage area, wherein the magnitude of the effect depends on the state of the storage area, and wherein the information stored in the storage area is read by measuring the magnitude of the effect.

12. A method of manufacturing a redundant data storage system comprising:

providing a control system;

providing a storage system including a controller and a plurality of atomic resolution storage device; and

configuring the atomic resolution storage devices to communicate with the controller as a redundant array of independent storage devices.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of defining an atomic resolution storage device controller associated with each atomic resolution storage device;

and executing a read or write command at the atomic resolution storage device via communication with the controller using the atomic resolution storage device controller.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising defining each atomic resolution storage device to include an electron emitters, and a storage medium including storage areas which are responsive to the electron emitters for changing a state of the storage area;

and

a micromover associated with the storage medium for positioning the electron emitters relative to the storage areas for execution of a read or write command.

15. An electronic appliance comprising:

an appliance control system; and

an atomic resolution storage device configured to communicate with the appliance control system as a redundant array of independent storage devices, wherein the atomic resolution storage device is a non-volatile memory component including a plurality of electron emitters, a media having media partitions, and a plurality of micromovers wherein each micromover is independently operable to move a media partition relative to one or more electron emitter for reading and writing data at the media.

16. The appliance of claim 15, further comprising a control system, wherein the atomic resolution storage device is responsive to a user input via the control system for reading and writing at the media.

17. The appliance of claim 16, wherein the control system is part of the appliance control system.

18. The appliance of claim 15, wherein the atomic resolution storage device is approximately 1 centimeters wide by 1 centimeters long by 2 millimeters high.

19. The appliance of claim 15, wherein the atomic resolution storage device has a power requirement of less than 1 watts.

20. The appliance of claim 15, wherein the atomic resolution storage device is configured to operate as a RAID LEVEL 1 RAID LEVEL 2, RAID LEVEL 3, RAID LEVEL 4, RAID LEVEL 5, RAID LEVEL 6 or RAID LEVEL 7 storage device.

21. The appliance of claim 15, wherein the electronic appliance is a personal digital assistant.

22. The appliance of claim 15, wherein the atomic resolution storage device has a storage capacity greater than 100 megabytes.

23. An electronic appliance comprising:

an appliance control system; and

a plurality of atomic resolution storage devices configured to communicate with the control system as a redundant array of independent storage devices, each atomic resolution storage device including;

an array of electron emitters fabricated by semiconductor microfabrication techniques capable of generating electron beams; and

a storage medium in proximity to the electron emitters and having storage areas in one of a plurality of states to represent the information stored in the storage area.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising a communications bus, wherein the atomic resolution storage devices are configured to communicate with the host via the communications bus.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the plurality of atomic resolution storage devices are located on a single silicon based unit.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the control system is located on the silicon based unit.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein one or more of the atomic resolution storage devices are located on separate silicon based units.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein an effect is generated when an electron beam bombards the storage area, wherein the magnitude of the effect depends upon the state of the storage area, and wherein the information stored in a storage area is read by measuring the magnitude of the effect.

29. The system of claim 23, further comprising:

a plurality of storage areas on the storage medium, with each storage area being similar to the one recited in claim 23;

and

a microfabricated mover in the storage device to position different storage areas to be bombarded by the electron beam.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising:

a plurality of electron emitters, with each emitter being similar to the one recited in claim 23, the plurality of electron emitters being spaced apart, with each emitter being responsible for a number of storage areas on the storage medium; and

such that a plurality of the electron emitters can work in parallel to increase the data rate of the storage device.

31. The system of claim 23, further comprising an atomic resolution storage device controller associated with each atomic resolution storage device to define an atomic resolution storage system, wherein each atomic resolution storage device communicates with the control system via the atomic resolution storage device controller.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the atomic resolution storage device controller is located on the atomic resolution storage device.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the atomic resolution storage device controller is located separate from the atomic resolution storage device.

34. The system of claim 23, wherein the atomic resolution storage device controller includes a memory buffer to aid in transmitting data between the atomic resolution storage device and the control system.

35. An electronic appliance having a storage system including a controller comprising:

an appliance control system; and

one or more atomic resolution storage devices logically connected to the controller via a communications bus, configured to communicate with the controller via the communications bus as a redundant array of independent storage devices, wherein each atomic resolution storage device further comprises;

an array of electron emitters capable of generating an electron beam;

a storage medium having a storage area capable of one or more states, wherein the storage area is responsive to one or more electron emitters to define the state of the storage area representative of information stored in the storage area; and

a micromover for positioning the storage medium relative to the electron emitters.

36. The system of claim 35, further comprising an atomic resolution storage device controller associated with each atomic resolution storage device controller communicates with the controller for execution of read and write commands at the atomic resolution storage device.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein each atomic resolution storage device is made using semiconductor microfabrication techniques.

38. The system of claim 35, wherein the plurality of atomic resolution storage devices are located on the same silicon based unit.

39. A method of manufacturing an appliance comprising:

providing a housing;

providing an appliance control system;

providing an appliance storage system including a controller and a plurality of atomic resolution storage devices; and

configuring the atomic resolution storage devices to communicate with the controller as a redundant array of independent storage devices.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising making each atomic resolution storage device using a semiconductor manufacturing process.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising making the plurality of atomic resolution storage devices on the same silicon based unit.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising making the controller on the same silicon unit as the plurality of atomic resolution storage devices.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising making each atomic resolution storage device on a separate silicon chip.

44. The method of claim 41, further comprising defining an atomic resolution storage device controller associated with each atomic resolution storage device;

and executing a read or write command at the atomic resolution storage device via communication with the controller using the atomic resolution storage device controller.

45. The method of claim 41, further comprising defining each atomic resolution storage device to include an array of electron emitters, and a storage medium including a storage area which is responsive to the electron emitters for changing a state of the storage area;

and a micromover associated with the storage medium for positioning the storage area relative to the electron emitters for execution of a read or write command.

46. A method of manufacturing an electronic appliance comprising:

providing a housing;

providing an appliance control system;

providing an appliance storage system including an atomic resolution storage device, including defining the atomic resolution storage device to include a plurality of electron emitters, a media having media partitions, and a plurality of micromovers wherein each micromover is operable to move a media partition relative to one or more electron emitters for the redundant reading and writing data at the media; and

configuring the atomic resolution storage device to communicate with the appliance control system as a redundant array of independent storage devices.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising making each atomic resolution storage device using a semiconductor manufacturing process.